origin & history of " flattern the curve " meme
( Experts are now saying we must aim to "StopTheSpread" rather than just "FlattenTheCurve" )
" I added an extra line to it ” says Professor Drew Harris in a interview. “Apparently, that made all of the difference” That extra line was the dotted “ healthcare system capacity ” line. And to be clear, it was fully a theoretical invention. There is no telling whether, even with the proper amount of handwashing, we won’t overload our healthcare system with any given unique pandemic. He didn’t count beds or respirators. He just drew the line. Rosamund Pearce, a data visualization journalist at The Economist. Pearce made some updates. She tuned the colors to those of her publication. She also changed the labeling scheme a bit to assist colorblind readers. But mostly, she kept the graphic as close as she could to the original in terms of shape, because as a journalist, she didn’t want to editorialize the work of scientists.
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Drew Harris, an assistant professor at the Thomas Jefferson University College of Population Health. He often referenced the original CDC pandemic graphic
( Page 18 - Figure 1: Goals of Community Mitigation) which he had remade in a simple way. He added an extra line to it. Apparently, that made all of the difference. That extra line was the dotted “healthcare system capacity”. It was fully a theoretical invention. There is no telling whether, even with the proper amount of hand washing, we won’t overload our healthcare system with any given unique pandemic. He didn’t count beds or respirators. He just drew the line. The image went viral. Flatten the Curve became a meme, with websites dedicated to the phrase. Pearce breathed new life into the CDC graphic. Then Harris added an anchor, a single line, that articulated its significance.
But it was Dr. Siouxsie Wiles who took the final step. She demonstrated the possibility that everyday people really could make a meaningful difference in slowing the spread of COVID-19. Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea are examples of #StopTheSpread. They’ve all used slightly different strategies which we can learn from. But they acted quickly, with no half measures. We need to be prepared to do the same at the first sign of community transmission. That may be in the next few days, or it might not happen for a few weeks. The important thing for any country that is able to #StopTheSpread is to not become complacent or if stop doing what needs to be done “perhaps to mitigate economic impact”. |
story behind the line ( healthcare system capacity )
Dr. Wiles showed that everyone canslowthe spread of COVID-19
Until a vaccine is ready, and that could take one to two years, we are all susceptible to this virus. If we turn our back for a minute, we’ll be back on the path to a serious outbreak.
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